The past years have seen a dynamic change in the ability of science to comprehend vast amount of data. Pioneering technologies such as nucleic acid arrays allow scientists to delve into the world of genetics in far greater details than ever before. Exploration of genomic DNA has long been a dream of the scientific community. Held within the complex structures of genomic DNA lies the potential to identify, diagnose, or treat diseases like cancer, Alzheimer disease or alcoholism. Exploitation of genomic information from plants and animals may also provide answers to the world's food distribution problems.
Recent efforts in the scientific community, such as the publication of a haplotype map of the human genome, (IHMC, Nature 437, 1299-1320 (2005)), have changed the dream of genome exploration into a reality. Genome-wide assays, however, must contend with the complexity of genomes; the human genome for example is estimated to have a complexity of 3×109 base pairs. Because of their abundance, single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) have emerged as the marker of choice for genome wide association studies and genetic linkage studies. High throughput methods for determining the genotypes of millions of SNPs in an individual will provide the framework for new studies to identify the underlying genetic basis of complex diseases such as cancer, mental illness and diabetes.